Soda and I both sat on the couch waiting for Jeff and Aaron to share their stories. I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean. But, I figured it couldn't hurt. Steve remained in the chair picking lint off of his DX shirt which was covered in grease stains. He was trying to appear uninterested, but I knew he was. I think Soda knew too. But we knew he wouldn't join us. He was too skeptical to just go ahead and join the rest of us.
"Okay, well, I guess I'll go ahead and share my story." Jeff said. He paused for a moment. Probably to gather his thoughts. Ponyboy does that a lot when he has to speak to someone he doesn't know that well.
"I was raised on the east side near the rail road tracks. I'm sure I don't need to explain where that is."
He didn't we were all familar with the rail road tracks. Although that was more Tim Shepherd's turf than ours.
Jeff continued. "Well, being from the east side, you don't have a lot. At least I didn't. I was very poor. I used to spend every day wondering if I was going to eat or not. To top it off, my parents were never really there for me. My mother ignored me. But my dad would holler at me all the time when he was home. He would probably be home for a day or two every two weeks or so then he'd run off to who knows where. I used to wish he'd stay wherever it was that he went. But he always returned. As I got older, I started to yell back at him, which eventually led to physical fights. See this scar?" He rolled up his sleave and poited at a faint white line about two inches from his wrist.
Soda and I both nodded as he rolled the sleave back down.
"That was from one of our fights. He threw a glass at me and it broke. Anyway, I also got involved with Tim Sheperd's gang. As a result, I started to steal things. Hey, I had to get food some how. My parents weren't providing it. Unfortunately, or maybe I should say fortunately, I got caught. I spent a few weeks in reformatory which isn't fun. But after I got out, I met Pastor Brian. He invited me to come here and at first I just sat in the back trying not to be noticed. Then one day, he spoke on how God is the father who will never leave us. I couldn't believe it. My dad left me all the time. How could some big guy in the sky be a father who never leaves you? I remember arguing with Pastor Brian about that after service that night. I was determined to prove him wrong." Jeff stopped to make sure we were listening. I noticed Steve was looking at him through his complicated swirled hair.
"Pastor Brian proved me wrong instead. Well, to be more accurate, he challenged me. He gave me a Bible, the whole Bible not just the gospel of John that you're holding now, and some verses to read. I'm not a huge fan of reading, but I read those verses and I don't know, something happened. The following week, I spoke to Pastor Brian again and that time I accepted Jesus into my heart. I found what I had been searching for that night. And while things still aren't great at home, I can at least know I have something better." Jeff finished his story.
"Do you still hang out with Tim?" Steve asked from where he sat.
"We do talk occassionally, but I stopped spending time with the gang shortly after I accepted Jesus. It just wasn't the thing I wanted to do." Jeff replied.
I looked at Soda who was looking at Steve. I wasn't sure what would happen before we left but, we still had to hear Aaron's story before we would find out for sure if Jesus was really what we were searching for.